Forum for Science, Industry and Business

A breakthrough in heat transfer technology

A revolutionary breakthrough in heat transfer technology that could improve process productivity and reduce energy consumption and waste, is being developed by Ashe Morris Ltd thanks to a £100,000 investment from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts), the largest source of early stage funding in the UK.

Heat exchangers are used in many industrial, commercial and domestic applications and can be used to add or remove heat during chemical and biological manufacturing processes. In a batch manufacturing environment, such as fermenting beer, or making pharmaceuticals, current heat exchangers control the temperature of the process (where the reaction occurs) by regulating the heat transfer fluid temperature or the flow rate as it passes through a cooling jacket.

Ashe Morris is developing a new technology that controls the temperature by changing the effective heat transfer area itself to control the process temperature. In a batch manufacturing application, the heat transfer fluid will flow around up to 100 independent elements that are controlled by a multi-port linear valve with a piston. As the piston moves up and down the valve it brings the relevant elements into use and heats or cools that section.

Joseph Meaney | alfa
Further information:
http://www.nesta.org.uk

Im Focus: Fizzy soda water could be key to clean manufacture of flat wonder material: Graphene

Whether you call it effervescent, fizzy, or sparkling, carbonated water is making a comeback as a beverage. Aside from quenching thirst, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have discovered a new use for these "bubbly" concoctions that will have major impact on the manufacturer of the world's thinnest, flattest, and one most useful materials -- graphene.

As graphene's popularity grows as an advanced "wonder" material, the speed and quality at which it can be manufactured will be paramount. With that in mind,...

Im Focus: Exotic quantum states made from light: Physicists create optical “wells” for a super-photon

Physicists at the University of Bonn have managed to create optical hollows and more complex patterns into which the light of a Bose-Einstein condensate flows. The creation of such highly low-loss structures for light is a prerequisite for complex light circuits, such as for quantum information processing for a new generation of computers. The researchers are now presenting their results in the journal Nature Photonics.

Light particles (photons) occur as tiny, indivisible portions. Many thousands of these light portions can be merged to form a single super-photon if they are...

Im Focus: Circular RNA linked to brain function

For the first time, scientists have shown that circular RNA is linked to brain function. When a RNA molecule called Cdr1as was deleted from the genome of mice, the animals had problems filtering out unnecessary information – like patients suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders.

While hundreds of circular RNAs (circRNAs) are abundant in mammalian brains, one big question has remained unanswered: What are they actually good for? In the...

Im Focus: RAVAN CubeSat measures Earth's outgoing energy

An experimental small satellite has successfully collected and delivered data on a key measurement for predicting changes in Earth's climate.

The Radiometer Assessment using Vertically Aligned Nanotubes (RAVAN) CubeSat was launched into low-Earth orbit on Nov. 11, 2016, in order to test new...

Im Focus: Scientists shine new light on the “other high temperature superconductor”

A study led by scientists of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science in Hamburg presents evidence of the coexistence of superconductivity and “charge-density-waves” in compounds of the poorly-studied family of bismuthates. This observation opens up new perspectives for a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of high-temperature superconductivity, a topic which is at the core of condensed matter research since more than 30 years. The paper by Nicoletti et al has been published in the PNAS.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, superconductivity had been observed in some metals at temperatures only a few degrees above the absolute zero (minus...